Melbourne's Crest Records (no relation to the American label
of the same name) operated from around 1961 into
the mid-1970s. Crest's releases cover a wide range of music including
pop, folk, jazz, Jewish traditional and liturgical music
and novelty titles. Catalogue numbers indicate
that there are more Crest titles to be identified, but since many of
its releases are evidently outside the pop-rock genre boundary they are not
listed in the major pop discographies.

Label owner Marcus Herman began his career in the 1940s,
running the Marco recording studio from his parents' Glen Iris home. In
the 1950s Herman and Robert 'King' Crawford established the Planet
label and its subsidiary Galaxy
(which also released titles licenced from the American Embassy and
Oriole labels). Planet/Galaxy recorded many prominent Melbourne acts of
the period and
has the distinction of issuing Australia's first rock'n'roll recording,
by the Henri Bource
All Stars. Around 1960 Planet was taken over by another
company which turned out to be in dire financial straits, and
tragically they
bulk-erased all the Planet masters and sold them for a pittance as
blank tape!

Herman established a new label, Crest Records, after the closure of Planet, with
established branches in four states. Crest releases included jazz,
folk, country
and light classics, as well as distributing many import labels. Herman
also
produced the successful 3XY "Jazz as You Like It" lunchtime concerts in
the Melbourne Town Hall, compered by Mike
Walsh, featured artists like Judy Jacques & The Yarra
Yarra New Orleans Jazz Band and the John Hawes
Jazz Band. Herman recorded a live album by the Yarra Yarra New
Orleans Jazz Band at one of these performances. These recordings were originally
released on Crest ca. 1962 on two EPs and on LP, and the LP version was reissued on
CD in 2007.

One of Crest's first 7" single releases (October 1961) was by renowned Melbourne band The Blue Jays, which became
famous in the mid-1960s as The Fabulous Blue Jays, the backing group for vocalist Tony Worsley.
The third single, also by The Blue Jays, featured vocals by
Laurie Allen (of Bobby & Laurie fame) who was a member of
the band at the time.

Other early Crest singles were by Malcolm Arthur & The
Knights, one of Melbourne's first rock'n'roll bands, and singer Kenny
Arnott, both of whom had previously recorded for Planet.

Vin De Araugo (aka Vin De Rouge) is a Melbourne tenor who appeared on Melbourne radio and Graham Kennedy's IMT in
the early Sixties. He recorded an EP of Mother's Day songs on Crest,
released in 1962. One of these songs was played on ABC local radio
in Melbourne in 2007 and was heard by Kelvin Fahey of Hardrush
Records; this led to a CD release that compiled Vin's four Crest
recordings,
five tracks lifted from a custom EP he had made at W&G
Studios in the early Sxities, plus several tracks sourced from
family tape recordings.

Mary Ann (born Mary Zulian) was
born in January 1958 and is now known as Mary Ann Leyden. She made
regular radio and TV appearances in her heyday and worked on
the Queensland club and hotel circuit after moving there in
1980.

The Moonshiners was a Melbourne-based folk group that worked between
1963-66 which included renowned folkie Brendan "Mook"
Hanley. The band, which was heavily
influenced by Peter, Paul & Mary and took over the
Melbourne residency vacated by The Seekers when
they left for England. Hanley went on to record two albums of
"bawdy" songs for Crest; the first was released in 1967 and the
second in 1970.

The Leprechauns was a teenage band from Melbourne. The song
"Rain", the B-side of their only single, was included on
the bootleg compilation It's A Kave In. The identity of "Mimo" who is credited on the A-side of the single, is yet to be determined.

The Frantics was a Melbourne four-piece pop group whose 1967 Crest
single is believed to be their only studio recording. The 'A' side
is a
"catchy pop-punk offering" (Joyson), which was also included on It's A Kave In.

The multi-talented Frank Howson was a singer, film scriptwriter and
composer of theatre music. As a songwriter, his work has
been recorded by The Ferrets, Brenda Kristian, Little River Band, Reg Livermore, The Metronomers and John Paul Young.
He also co-managed the IC label, which operated out of Germany. He
was a principal cast member of the original Australian stage production
of Jesus Christ Superstar.
He recorded an album in 1973 for Albert Productions but it was
reportedly scrapped before release; ten years later he suffered a
similar fate when Juke
records went bankrupt prior to the release of his second album, The Boy Who Dared To Dream! He later recorded a few more singles, mostly on the IC label.